A Teen’s Battle with Leukemia Ends in a Miracle

“I'm like, this is gotta be as close to hell as you can get…”

One morning in August 2020, thirteen-year-old Jaedon Foster came home with a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop. His parents, Tom & Lisa Foster took him to the doctor to see what was going on. Blood tests revealed staggering numbers—an off-the-charts white blood cell count, platelets dangerously low. Within hours, the family was sent to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and doctors officially diagnosed Jaedon with acute myeloid leukemia --- a rare, aggressive cancer. Having been leaders in ministry in the past, Tom & Lisa wrestled with doubt and disappointment. Jaedon’s mom Lisa says, “is it not the biggest fear any mother has? Jaedon was my child of promise, you know, that's what he's named Jaedon, a gift of God.” Tom says, “ I was in go mode -- I was ready for warfare; this is unacceptable.”

Chemo treatments were brutal --- Jaedon’s skin peeled, his stomach lining shed, and his organs began to fail. He spent weeks in ICU, too weak to stand, and forced to relearn how to walk. For a time, Jaedon began to improve, but then, the cancer came back --- stronger, and more resistant, and now in his brain. Lisa describes it by saying, “when I found out it was in his brain, suddenly all the hope was gone, and I felt it was so dark --- It was so dark. I suddenly didn't feel God so close, and I don't like that feeling, like that's a terrible feeling; I’m like, this is gotta be as close to hell as you can get.”

Jaedon endured through relapses, transplants, and near-death moments. Yet through it all, the Fosters prayed. Tom Foster says, “God told me, I want you to tell the symptoms about my person. I want you to tell them about my promise, my provision and my purposes. I don't want you to inform yourself with the symptoms, I want you to inform the symptoms of who I Am.”  They thanked God daily—through the setbacks, through the pain, their faith increased. Then over time, they realized Jaedon was regaining strength, the leukemia was deteriorating, and his healing journey out of that season had begun. Around Easter of 2022, after two years of hospital life, the Fosters finally returned home together, cancer free. The Fosters continue to share their story today, of how what began with fear, ended with faith. From Lisa’s whispered prayer to Tom’s battle in doubt, to Jaedon’s quiet strength—God was writing a bigger story. When Jaedon reflects back on his 
testimony, this is his response:

I think God is so good to get me through all of it. While I was playing volleyball one time I heard the song “Counting my Blessings” by Seph Schlueter, and the song just spoke to me. It was so real, how accurate that song is to my life. God, I'm still counting my blessings for all that you've done in my life --- just infinite blessings, infinite blessings from everything he's done all through the hospital and all throughout after and my healing, and that I could be there playing volleyball, because of Him. All because of Him.